Decieving
by Tarri
Summary: Very complicated a.k.a. hard to explain.Seven Aztrioths…


14

She sat by the fire as warmth engulfed her. Listening to her heartbeat, and feeling the blood pump though her veins, She sighed.

She pushed herself backwards as the fire grew, so she wouldn't be too warm. Suddenly, she flung herself backwards because the fire had grown to a circle the size of an elephant and the top of the flames licked the clouds.

She was stuck on the ground, paralyzed from bewilderment. Her eyes were drawn to the center of the flaming pillar, and she saw a blue glow. Then the blue glow grew larger until the whole fire was a florescent colour.

Perplexed, she stood staring into the fire. She saw beautiful scenes inside the pillar as the fire illuminated her face, while a play of emotions flickered across it. Exotic flowers, crystal caves, and glorious moments from the past scrolled through her head. She felt the happiness of the families who were reunited and the overwhelming excitement of the victorious teams after a war.

Then, before she had time to figure out what was happening, the ashes and soot from the fire ate her and her head was covered in burnt soil. As the fire sunk slowly into the ground, Shea only saw blue flames for the rest of her time being unconsciousness.

Torment seared through Wil as he looked upon the once peaceful campsite. In its place was a large circle of burnt ashes and coal. . He unconsciously ran his slender hand through his brown ruffled hair and he slowly fell to the ground. He felt his body giving way, his life being drained away from him. It felt as if half of his now barely thriving soul was gone in those ashes that stood in front of him.

Why did everything happen to him? He was only sixteen and yet it felt like he was already dead. His whole town burnt down by a fire. His parents mysteriously disappearing when he was only eight. Him having to run away from the world with his sister for heaven knows why and now this? His last part of himself, his only sister, gone, probably buried under the soot. He couldn't bring himself to look for her in the piles of rubble in the campsite.

He was too weak to think. His world was falling apart. _He_ was falling apart. Life itself was falling apart. Just when things were going right something went wrong. Wil just wanted to drop dead. Then and there. He hated everything. He wanted it to go away forever. All of it. He was alone. No one else. Just him and his misery. No one else...

Then everything disappeared with Wil's long and excruciating moan. It showed Wil's life to anyone who was listening. It opened up his heart, soul, and mind for the better judgment. Wil slowly faded away. Lost in his painful thoughts and memories.

Shea... 

Then he was gone.

"Boy. Boy!" a soft motherly voice was calling to Wil. He didn't want to listen. He wanted to exclude himself from everything else.

"Well you can't do that can you," a commanding voice said.

"Be nice! Heaven knows what he's been through!" the first voice said.

Wil felt a rushing sensation pass through his brain and each and every thought of his, each and every memory, passed through his mind without him commanding them to. He felt very vulnerable to everything outside of him.

"Sorry." the second voice said softly, in a slightly smaller voice, but the comment was directed more to him. He opened his eyes in confusion.

Two people were standing over him. One was a brunette who looked about thirty and the other was a girl about his age. The girl had black shining hair and bright green eyes. They weren't regular eyes though, in fact all but. If those eyes held you in a gaze you couldn't get out until they released you. Though you wouldn't mind being stuck in them anyway. They were commanding, dangerous, and yet beautiful and mysterious all at the same time. They could lead anyone rambling to their fate without knowing it.

Wil avoided looking at them.

"Oh, and just so you know, your sister is okay," said the girl with the strange eyes kindly, "she's still unconscious though." The girl added as an after thought.

Wil felt everything he seemed to have lost before surge into him. He wasn't alone! The word no longer scared him. He loved life. He loved everything. There were no words to explain the overwhelming joy and relief Wil felt.

He slowly sat up, full of life and energy. He was flushed. He was not pale, feverish, and weak anymore.

Then common sense lifted into Wil's head. Where was he? Who are those people standing over him?

And then, as if she read his mind, the girl said, "I'm Elwyn, and this is Jomara. We are travelers who both chanced upon this hut on the same day. We've been here together ever since, mostly restocking our supplies. This hut is right next to where we found you. You can see that spot if you look out the window. Jomara found your sister over there and I found you. We found it kind of strange at first, two people unconscious in the same spot and in the same day. But then we found out you were traveling together."

_The question is how did they find out if Shea had been unconscious all this time,_ Wil thought to himself.

"Easy, I can read minds." Wil searched the captivating eyes for any trace of lies but there was none. Elwyn held a small smirk on her face. That was what Wil felt before he opened his eyes, when the girl said sorry. That's why she said sorry.

Now he understood.

He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but nothing came out. He wanted to say how rude, inconsiderate, intolerable reading minds was. Wil felt so violated. He had been raised against it and now he was face to face with someone who practiced it. Not _just_ practiced it, but practiced it on _him_. He was outraged.

Wil just couldn't understand how he let this happen to him.

"I'm sorry." Wil looked up at the girl. "I didn't find out anything...I just saw how you came here. That's it." She paused. Wil just sat there, not saying or thinking anything due to his state of shock. He just let it all sink in. His privacy was no more. He was vulnerable to anything, everything. He...

"Oh just shut up!" Elwyn was getting impatient. All this boy did was complain, complain, complain. Even after she apologized too. If he was outraged...

"Well _sorry_..." Wil rolled his eyes. Now she was blabbing on about _this _and_ that_ and _I said I was sorry _junk. _Ugh, who does she think she is..._

"Who do I think _I_ am! Who do you think _you_ are!" Elwyn wanted to slap him. _She _was blabbing on! NO way. It was _he _who was blabbing.

"Oh! So that's how it is, huh! WELL MISS BLABBY PANTS THIS WOULD BE A LOT EASIER IF YOU WOULD STOP READING MY MIND!"

"YOU MEAN YOU STOP READING MY MIND!"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK I AM SOME KIND OF MIND READING ZOMBIE LIKE YOU!"

"YOUR RIGHT YOU ARE A MIND READING ZOMBIE!"

"OH YEAH!"

"OH YEAH!"

Jomara watched the two fight in confusion. She didn't understand what either of them were talking about in the beginning and she still didn't now.

Behind her there was a slow moan and a gasp. Shea had woken up in a sweep of confusion, hearing yelling and now she was wondering were she was. She muted out the noise and she felt the radiating heat that the small room she was in was giving off.

Shea opened and closed her fingers so she could feel her nerves working again. It was the most wonderful sensation in the world. To make her brain work, to feel the heat, to be alive. She watched her muscles pull and contract as she balled her hand into a fist and smiled. It wasn't from happiness, or something particularly funny, but from that tingling, almost painful feeling you get when you squeeze your fingers too tight. She loved it.

Before it was one of those everyday things that you take for granted, but now, now that she'd been in that strange situation with the demonic fire, it was special. Shea realized how close she had been to never feeling it again. At the moment she would welcome pain and agony as long as she could feel it. And feel it again. And feel it once more.

And now she could feel it again, thanks to...whom was she thanking?

All of a sudden the sounds and surroundings swept back into her mind as she realized she didn't know where she was or who she was with. At least that's what she thought for the moment...

Elwyn stopped yelling due to shortage of breath. She was flushed and frustrated, for the person she was arguing with was stupid enough not to notice that he was reading her mind. Also, she had only found out how the boy and girl had got there and nothing else.

She looked away from the still yelling boy (although she wasn't paying any attention to him anymore) and shifted her thoughts to something else. She seemed more relaxed as she stared at that little thing in the back of the room that was slightly out of place.

_Or was it out of place? _Elwyn tilted her head. She was positive it was supposed to be there. Completely positive. But it just wasn't like that before.

Elwyn focused a little more. _It_ was a person. Not just any person, but a recently unconscious girl named Shea.

Now Wil had noticed Elwyn had stopped yelling. In fact, she wasn't even paying attention to him anymore.

Actually, he was almost glad she wasn't paying attention to him anymore. He had run out of breath and he could tell that he was starting to radiate heat. He followed the direction of Elwyn's eyes.

When he looked in that direction he could have jumped 50 feet in the air.

He ran over to his sister and practically jumped on her.

Shea fell back with a humongous smile pasted upon her face.

"Shea! You're alive! I...I...well, they told me but I still...see...I believed them but...I..."

Shea interrupted him. "I'm happy too." She laughed.

Wil was feeling the sensation of all his life coming back into him, again. But this time it spread wider and filled in every nook inside him untouched from before. All he could do was smile wider and wider until his face stung and his muscles stretched farther then they were supposed to.

Shea pushed Wil back and smiled. "Hey, what was all that yelling about?" She looked at him quizzically and cocked her head sideways.

"_She _is a mind reader. _She_ also read my mind." Wil whispered in response.

In the back of the room Elwyn snorted. "Look whose talking." She said to herself quietly enough so no one could hear as she rolled her eyes._ Not like it'll do any good. Mine as well have yelled it._ She shook her head in disapproval.

In the middle of Elwyn and her private thoughts and Wil and his secret whisperings Jomara stood dumbfounded. Jomara thought herself to be regularly confused. Almost constantly confused. She never would know what was happening. Then again, she never bothered to find out.

She started to think that if she wanted to survive (socially at least) then she should step up and _try_ to find out what was happening. Aww, who was she kidding. That just wasn't her. She just wasn't a socially updated person. Well, she didn't mind that much. And curiosity never got the best of her so she guessed that was good.

Thus, she just stood in the midst of it all knowing it best not to get involved.

"Are these the people that saved me?" Shea asked while looking curiously at the brunette and the girl with green eyes.

"Uh...yes. They are." Wil said a bit uneasily. Shea smiled.

"Why thank you...er...what are you names?" Shea asked.

Elwyn jumped at the question. "Elwyn. And don't thank us, please." She smiled politely.

Wil didn't find it polite at all. He found it almost ignorant. In fact, although he wouldn't give himself into the thought, he was jealous. She hadn't smiled at him before. Smirked, but not smiled.

He wasn't sure why he even cared. They were as good friends as mortal enemies were. But nevertheless, he didn't like it. He didn't show it on his face, but it was there. Stingy jealousy. It was a rarity for him but it happened. He didn't like when it happened but unfortunately it did.

Wil tried to clear his emotions but he found it difficult. Jealousy is a very hard thing to dismiss or forget. It sticks to you like a fly on flypaper. Wil didn't like the way it stuck to him but he couldn't help it. It was an unstoppable force that was persistent to form him in its shape, to turn him into what it wanted him to be. Wil wouldn't give in. Almost to the point of denial, but he wouldn't do it.

He convinced himself that he wasn't jealous, that he didn't care, and he created a wall around his mind, reinforcing it every time he denied the feeling. The wall as impenetrable and the persistent force could not pierce the barricade Wil had created. Slowly the unstoppable became stopped and Wil could continue in the conversation.

"I'm Jomara, nice to meet you." Shea nodded in response and complimented it with a friendly smile.

"Pleased to meet you too." Jomara nodded.

Wil watched the meeting in curiosity.

Elwyn soon lost interest in the subject and was looking around. It wasn't like she had a small attention span, it was just that she had done her part in the conversation and she felt she did not feel the need to interject herself into it.

Soon she found herself tracing the pattern in the rug and counting the number of planks in the wall as if they were subjects of the most importance. As if she needed to know. As if she wouldn't survive unless the number was defied, the pattern undone. It was a necessity, it couldn't stay unsettled.

But as soon as she felt the need to do these things her mind was over come with something else.

Memory.

A single word that can bring immeasurable amounts of pain and agony, or unbound happiness and joy.

But this brought neither. It brought another emotion to Elwyn. Something different. A sense of importance, a real need, something that cannot be let down easily. This particular sensation will nag at your mind. But not in a bad way. It's a good thing to have, an important sense. It's determination.

Her determination had a reason though. For determination does not come about causeless. No. She had something to do, something important.

A week, or maybe two, weeks ago, she had to flee. Everyone around her were particularly careful not to mention what they were running from. Elwyn was aware of this and did not let it slip by. She snuck around and listened to conversations of others around her.

Soon she found out the details.

The government, those who were ruling the land, had a secret. Someone in the family was involved in this secret and someone else in the family knew about it. Both of those members weren't in the town, but the government wanted the family exterminated. All except the member involved.

The government had been destroying towns in order to find the family and soon they started running.

At the time that's all Elwyn knew.

Then as the her family were running, they started to disappear.

It had happened once before, someone in the family disappearing, but not so many at once. In fact, that one time before only one person disappeared, from her family at least.

When there where only a couple members left, other then herself, she found something else out. The government wanted something her family had, but they didn't get it yet.

Then everyone but her had disappeared and she was traveling by herself until she met Jomara who was also traveling. Jomara's intentions were unknown but Elwyn was grateful for a companion. Then she and Jomara came across the little hut she was in. That led to finding Wil and Shea on the nearby campground.

Elwyn knew nothing else. But she was determined to find out the rest.

Where had her family gone? What was the government's secret? Was the first disappearance connected to the rest of them? What did the government want from her family?

She _would _find out.

Elwyn snapped back into reality. Everyone was sitting on the floor listening to Shea describe what had happened to her. Elwyn already knew. At the moment she had no interest in what the twenty year old had to say. She really wasn't interested. She hated being taught what she already knew and she wasn't about to make an exception.

Wil stood up and looked at his sister. He _really_ didn't feel like listening to his sister. He didn't like being told what to do. But his sister could be persuasive, more like forceful, and he had to do what she said.

So he walked up to Elwyn. She was eyeing him suspiciously but she wasn't reading his mind. Maybe he had been wrong, maybe she only read his mind to find out he was a safe person. She might not know that much about him. Well, it didn't matter anymore, according to his sister.

"Er...lets do this over." He gulped. He hated doing these kinds of things. Elwyn's dazzling eyes looked at him searchingly. Wil looked away. "Hi, I'm Wil. Thanks for...er...saving me." He took a deep breath.

Elwyn smiled inwardly. "Hi, I'm Elwyn. Don't thank me." This time Elwyn smiled outwardly. Wil smiled back.

They both nodded. "You have an extraordinary skill." Wil offered kindly.

"As do you." Elwyn replied.

"I do?" Wil inquired.

"Of course."

Wil raised his eyebrow. "What?"

Elwyn smiled sweetly. "Oh, you'll figure it out."

Wil looked dumbfounded. He shrugged and gave an unsure smile. "Uh...okay. Thanks?"

Elwyn just smiled and sat down._ A nice idiot. Maybe he'll get smarter._

Wil followed her example. He looked at his sister. Shea nodded.

A sense of determination rushed into Elwyn. "Look it was nice to met you all but I have to go." Elwyn made way to the door and stopped short.

Something was holding her back. No matter how hard she pushed, she tried, she wanted; she wouldn't budge. Somewhere in her subconscious something was stopping her. Something that shut down her whole body until she obeyed the impulse.

Elwyn hung her head low and turned around.

"I...er...I need to do something but I need help." She looked pleadingly at Wil and sat down. She had no idea why she looked at Wil. Maybe it was that last act of kindness, but she looked at him nevertheless.

"I need to answer some questions, but I can't do it alone."

Wil was a little nervous when Elwyn stopped short and looked at him, and now...what kind of answers did she want? What kind of help?

He glanced at the others but none of them seemed to have noticed. They were all caught up in their own thoughts, a thick veil of confusion, keeping every one else questioning at what they were really thinking.

Elwyn's dark hair obscured her face as she looked down. How could she be stupid enough to say that? But really, it wasn't stupidity. It was fright. But not from the things that could hurt you physically, but from the things that hurt you mentally. From the things that could drive the sanest person in the world mad. From the things that slowly ate away at you until you were a mere shadow, locked in a world of despair, half real, half dreaming, lost for eternity in your own madness. Then you start slipping away, just to be lost within the walls of your memory, not wanting to face reality, until you wither away to nothing. It was loneliness.

Jomara looked up. "I'll go." She smiled. Elwyn smiled back.

"Me to." Shea agreed. Elwyn smiled.

"Well, if your going I should tell you about it." Elwyn offered.

"Sure, okay."

"Yes, that sounds good."

Wil didn't reply. He didn't say anything. He wondered if anyone noticed.

"Well, here are the questions I need to find out." She paused and looked around. Then she explained what happened to her family and what she wanted to know.

"It will require sneaking around. So, what do you say?"

Jomara and Shea shook their heads yes and gave a friendly smile. Wil, again, did nothing. He still wondered if anyone noticed.

"Thanks. A lot." Elwyn was extremely grateful but her problem was she didn't know how to show gratitude. Even if she did, she didn't think it could be expressed with a mere gesture or word.

She eyed Wil who was looking at Shea and Jomara. He hadn't answered. She wasn't sure why he didn't. Did he not want to and was trying to hide it but not lie, or was he trying to hide he fact he wanted to. Neither made sense.

And neither were. Wil wasn't trying to hide anything. In fact, the opposite of that. He wanted to say his answer, but he couldn't. He didn't have one. He wasn't sure what to do. Obviously it didn't matter to the others since they didn't even notice that he didn't answer. Or so he thought.

Elwyn cleared her throat quietly and looked at Wil. Then, barely over a whisper she said, "What do you say?"

Luckily no one else heard, for that was what she intended, so as not to draw attention to Wil or herself.

"Hmmm...?"

"Uhh..." Apparently Wil had been wrong. Someone did notice. "Alright, I'll go."

He wasn't sure of his answer, or what he just got himself into, but he couldn't change that now.

"Thanks. Being alone can sometimes drive people mad." Elwyn thanked him. Wil didn't need to be told that twice. He smiled. He figured whatever he got himself into couldn't be that bad. _I mean, it's not like I'm going to regret this._

"Uh...okay. Well, I can't tell anyone where to go 'cause I don't know where to find the government." Elwyn shrugged. It was the least anyone could expect. It wasn't like she knew everything about her problem. Her problem was, after all, answers.

Jomara looked up. The non-socially informed person did know a lot about places. Not people, but places. Everyone has their advantages and disadvantages, and places were her advantage.

"I know were they are." Jomara knew were everything was, but she wasn't going to tell anyone that.

"You do?" Shea was astounded. The government was extremely secretive about those kinds of things.

"As a matter of fact I do." Jomara was slightly disturbed that someone found that strange, but if she thought about it why the heck did she care?

"Wonderful!" Elwyn smiled. She was glad Jomara was there.

"Well, then let's stock up on supplies and Jomara can show us the way." Shea, not purposely, but she did anyway, just taken charge. She never meant to take charge, but Shea had a way about her of always knowing what to do.

"What kind of terrain will we be crossing Jomara? Oh, and how long will it take?" Shea asked.

"Various terrains, and about, uh...I don't know how many days." Jomara put her hand to her mouth to think. She certainly didn't know how long. It varied. What was the pace of the group? How often were they to stop? With that and many more variables how cold someone rely on a serious answer? An estimate maybe, but that would also probably prove to be incorrect.

"Okay...well, just gather as many supplies as you can get." Shea was a little nervous with the uncertainness of Jomara, but there was nothing else to be done. Jomara was their only hope to finding the government's secret location.

Again, Elwyn had wandered. It wasn't like her to do this, but she didn't exactly feel close with the people she was traveling with. She sometimes felt a need to distance herself from them, some invisible tension that was there and yet no one noticed it but her. Something, or maybe someone, that didn't belong, and it knew it.

Elwyn has no proof this was true except her instincts. She didn't need proof though; she fully trusted her instincts. She was convinced they would save her one day.

Wil looked around. Something, he wasn't sure what, was nagging at him. It wasn't like a forgotten promise though, no, it was much different. It was like something that bothered you when it wanted attention. He was sure of that. And yet, he couldn't quite figure it out. He shrugged. If it didn't leave by that night he would sleep on it.

Everyone gathered supplies without talking. No one really wanted to talk. The only people who truly knew each other were Wil and Shea. And yet they didn't say anything.

Shea despised silence. It was threatening. Something that could envelop her within itself. It was one thing she truly feared, but she made a resolve that no one else would find out.

When everything was stuffed in rucksacks and the small company left the cottage.

Jomara was leading them forward into the fog and dreary rain. Everything was obscured from the shadow of the canopy of trees.

Wil peered forward through the depressing weather. He couldn't see a thing for miles. The fog was dense and the darkness just made everything even less visible.

Wil looked back at the cottage. He felt like seeing the last bit of warmth and happiness before he left.

He was let down.

As Wil looked back he saw nothing. His face had a sudden expression of surprise on it. His mouth stood open. It wasn't that the fog or darkness obscured the little hut; it had disappeared. He may not have been able to see well, but indeed well enough to see an inch in front of his face.

Elwyn looked back. She didn't see Wil in front of her anymore, but everyone else was there.

Elwyn froze.

Shea noticed that Wil and Elwyn weren't moving along with her and Jomara. In a way Shea was annoyed. Already they were slacking off. It was the beginning of their trip- before the beginning- and no one even wanted to work at at least getting a mile further.

When she looked back she saw two rigid figures in the mist.

Curious Shea moved forward to see why Wil and Elwyn had abruptly stopped and why they weren't moving.

When Shea got next to Elwyn she saw Elwyn's mouth open and her eyebrows raised.

"What's wrong?" Shea was interested. She wanted to know what was happening.

Elwyn opened her mouth as if she wanted to speak but nothing came out. It was as if she forgot how to.

Shea studied the lines and shadows in Elwyn's face as Elwyn looked ahead. Slowly, Elwyn's arm came up and her index finger extended. She was pointing forward.

Elwyn found she couldn't speak. She was I such a state of shock that she couldn't do anything. However she got her arm up, she couldn't put it down. She was just a pointing staring statue.

She watched as Shea advanced toward Wil, knowing that the response wouldn't be any different. And she was right, Wil just pointed. She noticed he didn't put his arm down again.

Shea walked forward, thinking if she couldn't see whatever they were pointing at maybe she could feel it. _THAT'S IT! I CAN'T SEE IT!_ It rushed on her so suddenly you could see the revelation on Shea's face. _It has disappeared!_

Shea just stood their dumbfounded. There was nothing else she could do.

Jomara slowly turned around. She saw the others like wraiths, their appearance fuzzed by the fog, their details obscured by the distance. They were all oblivious to her staring at them. It seemed insane. They were staring at nothing worth to be stared at. Just that shabby old cottage, where everyone had spent their time before. Not worth staring at.

She walked forward so she could see if she missed anything.

No, nothing. Just a cottage. Jomara put her hand up to the wall. Something seemed different about the cottage, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"What's wrong?" Jomara asked. She expected an answer.

No one answered. Jomara scowled.

"I see a cottage and I will admit it seems different, but I still want an answer. What are you staring at?" It was more of a demand than a question but Jomara wanted an answer nevertheless.

Elwyn snapped back to life when she heard the remark.

"You see it!" Her state of shock wasn't improving. She couldn't believe her ears. Obviously no one could see it except Jomara. But how, why?

"Yes I can see it! Why do you think I'm asking!?" Jomara said matter-of-factly.

Elwyn flinched. It seemed like Jomara was going to blow. _That would be nasty if it was literal_, Elwyn thought. She shrugged it off. That wasn't going to happen. It was just a strange happening that probably could be fixed.

She hoped.

"I can't see it. Evidently they can't see it either." She pointed to where the cottage should have been. The whole thing seemed absurd. Why couldn't everyone go on with their lives normally like the people who work in the kitchen, play in the street, live a happy non-paranormal life. No, it was never that way with her, never. It didn't seem normal with Wil and Shea either. She could tell that much by the type of energy they gave off. But Jomara seemed to have lived a perfectly normal life. Yet she was mixed in with a bunch of misfits, threatening to change her life forever. Elwyn just didn't understand it.

Maybe she could see it because she never had anything paranormal happen to her. Or maybe...just maybe...

Elwyn shook her head. It was absurd. No one in their right mind would go looking, actually looking, for...

She shook the thought off. It was preposterous, she knew no one would really want..._unless you're a psycho,_ Elwyn thought.

The shade from the trees shadowed Elwyn's face as she hung it down, her hair creating a curtain, and the thick mist hiding anything else that would be visible. Her vision was obscured by everything that was helping to hide her, and at the same time her face was obscured from all without.

She smiled madly. She knew she was crazy, and at the same time right. Jomara could see it because...Elwyn breathed in deeply. The very opposite of all in the sane world, Jomara wanted to be paranormal, wanted to be seemingly mad, wanted it all so badly, that it was creating an opposite affect on her. It was what she wanted preventing her from having it. She wanted it so badly that it was making energy of it's own. Her want was so powerful, that it prevented itself from happening.

Elwyn's face was grim set as she lifted it and as the curtain swept away to her shoulders.

"Let's forget it and go." She turned and looked over her shoulders.

"Coming?" She raised her eyebrows.

Wil and Shea started walking towards her until they got in front of her. Elwyn looked at Jomara who was standing opened mouthed in front of the invisible hut.

Elwyn smiled.

"You know, you're weird." Jomara looked at her and smiled in response. Then she moved in front of her like Wil and Shea. But Elwyn stayed a bit longer.

She never knew the power of want could be so powerful. She never wanted anything in her life that bad and suspected she never would. She would never fully understand it, but then, she really wasn't sure she wanted to.

The group continued their journey with damp souls, very much like the weather. Their surroundings didn't change and they all formed their own private resolve to make it through the whole ideal without mentally or physically breaking down. Nothing happened, to their relief, on the first day and the company settled down at night in a clearing.

"We should hit a town soon and after that the field of dreams." Jomara fiddled with her thumbs as she told everyone where they were to go.

"Field of dreams?" Wil inquired, thoroughly interested.

"Yes, the field of dreams." Jomara smiled, "It's exactly what it's called, a field of dreams. On it there are two temples. One room each, rather small if you ask me. One is the temple of dreams and the other is the temple of nightmares. Each one helps you have the opposite of its name. Just say you slept in the temple of nightmares; then you would have a dream. Get it? And it's very important that we spilt apart. That means two of us each temple." She paused. "_If_ there are still four of us." Jomara whispered under her breath. No one noticed.

"See, if we all have a dream, it'll become a dream world. If we all have nightmares, well, then life would become a living heck. Just to us though. It doesn't affect people outside the field. That's why you don't go there alone." She nodded.

Everyone fell asleep with Jomara's warning in head.

The next day they did find a town around noon. It wasn't quite what anyone had expected.

They stood on a hill overlooking the town and all of the company's noses crinkled in disgust.

"This is a town that's full of cutthroats and thieves!" Wil heard of that place before, it was called something that he vaguely remembered, but he knew it was disgusting.

"Yes, and we have to go through it." Jomara stated.

"Isn't there a way around?" Wil definitely didn't want to go there.

"No." Jomara said confidently.

"We'll never survive in there!" He was outraged. Jomara was crazy.

"If we were a band of cutthroats and thieves we would." She intervened.

"What are you suggesting? That we pretend..." Elwyn didn't finish due to Shea's nod.

"What!" Wil wasn't about to go into a town and pretend to be a cutthroat so he could get himself killed.

"To bad, we're doing it." Shea said as if her word was the final decree.

Wil just stood in his spot, feet suspended momentarily. He couldn't go against his sister.

"Okay, you guys are small so you can be our top assassins." Shea told Wil and Elwyn. They both stood staring.

"Jomara can be the lead cutthroat and I'll be the major thief." Wil and Elwyn were still staring in disbelief. Jomara just nodded, eyes full of understanding.

"Well, get ready. You can't just act the part you have to look the part too." Shea put her short sword in her pack and smiled. "Let me help."

She went up to Elwyn and carefully extracted her weapons from her belt and rucksack. Then Shea placed Elwyn's sword back in her belt but hid the blade and its sheath in her pants against her thigh. She took her knife and placed that down in Elwyn's boot.

"Always keep you're face shadowed and don't talk a lot. And when you do talk speak in riddles and use cunning so you're saying many words but there's no meaning to any of them whatsoever." Shea raised her eyebrows. Elwyn nodded.

Shea did the same thing to Wil but told him to behave differently.

"Always laugh harshly and coldly and intervene in conversations by saying yes and no but keep sure neither is true. Oh, and stay behind Jomara and don't go into the shadows like Elwyn." Wil nodded in response.

Next Shea went up to Jomara. She took all of Jomara's weapons and mad them visible then put a sword in Jomara's hand.

"Swing the sword around all the time and look at people threateningly. Never talk, only grunt." Jomara nodded also.

Wil looked to his side. Elwyn had completely disappeared n the shadows. He saw her step up so he could see her. Her face was shadowed as she smiled coldly. He shivered. Then Elwyn was gone.

He looked back at Jomara who now looked like a rough barbaric person who wouldn't hesitate to turn their back on you and finish you off in front of a thousand people. He was glad he stood in _back_ of her.

Shea had transformed also. She looked like a devilish little figure with greedy eyes. It made him strangely uncomfortable in her presence.

He went within himself and made himself seem cold and heartless. He didn't like the feeling.

Before they went into the town Shea smiled warmly at him and he saw the old Shea for the last time before they entered the ill town.

The weather, which had not improved since they first left, seemed to have gotten more depressing. A light drizzle left everything in the town soaked and dripping, which did not improve its condition. For the town was even more depressing than the weather. Every-thing was old and creaking, like bones of those who weren't supposed to be moving. Cracked and chipped was the condition of all the buildings the group passed. Shutters barely clung on to their hinges, everything frantic and disarray. The dark gray clouds shadowed all underneath them, leaving all dark, dank, and obscured.

The shadows stocked the company in the graying light, like demons who did not want to be discovered. Everyone was edgy, alert, protective. They huddled together, but despite their efforts, the company was stranded in the shadows, lost in a sea of darkness, a maze that threatened to strip their sanity away from them, slowly, one at a time.

The people in the town were a direct reflection of it. Wil could not conceive how the town could change people so, but it had. Every person they passed was dark, protective, and the opposite of friendly. Everyone avoided each other; accept those rare groups that clung together so that they were stronger then everyone else, for protection, or for reasons Wil didn't dare think about.

He shivered, but not of the cold.

Wil despised the place from the moment he walked in. He had no doubt that the others did also. All they had to do was go through...

Yet he had a feeling there would be more.

Jomara shifted her position and stepped back so she was next to Wil.

"This place may not be pleasant, but you have to bare it." _This place is more than unpleasant,_ Wil thought. He thought the place was disgusting, and he wasn't discreet about it either. His face was traced with lines of disapproval.

"What's this place called?" Wil asked._ It must have one heck of a name if it looks like this._

"It's called Serinafre." Jomara replied, eyes distant. Wil thought the name didn't match the city; actually, he thought it would be a name for the opposite type of city. He told Jomara and she sighed.

"Yes, well, it wasn't always like this." She paused, then shook her head. "Once, it was one of the most beautiful cities in the whole of the lands. But, as you see, it's not anymore." She shook her head again. "I don't know what happened to it but it must have been horrid. I wish it was like the way it was all those years ago." She quickened her pace and left Wil to walk behind her alone, thinking.


End file.
